Hauptinhalt

The Commissioner for Franco-German Cooperation

Minister of State Michael Roth

On 8 January 2014, Federal Chancellor Merkel appointed Michael Roth, Minister of State for Europe, to act as Germany’s Commissioner for Franco-German Cooperation.

On the French side, Harlem Désir, the State Secretary responsible for European Affairs in the French Foreign Ministry, became his opposite number as Commissioner on 9 April 2014.

The Commissioners are responsible for coordinating Franco-German cooperation at the governmental level. Their work makes it possible for all the ministries to prepare joint projects which the Franco-German Council of Ministers can then enact.

A key focus of their work is their engagement in regional and cross-border cooperation. They play their part in ensuring that Franco-German relations are deepened at a local level, too, by attending meetings in the French Regions and the German Länder and maintaining contact with those responsible locally.

On 22 January 2003, the fortieth anniversary of the signing of the Élysée Treaty, the German and French Governments expressed their desire to deepen their cooperation by establishing a biannual Franco-German Council of Ministers and also creating the office of Commissioner for Franco-German Cooperation in each of the two countries.

The Commissioners, each of whom is assisted by a Deputy Commissioner from the Foreign Ministry of the other country, work to strengthen ties between the respective civil societies and also to promote cooperation between the two countries, particularly within the framework of the European Union.

Franco-Germancooperation

In terms of cooperation with the 28EU member states, the Franco-German partnership holds a particularly prominent position because of its history, intensity and special institutional architecture. As part of the twelfth Franco-German Council of Ministers held in Paris on 4 February 2010, Germany and France set joint goals for deepening their cooperation in the next ten years. The Cabinets of both Governments agreed on a “Franco-German Agenda 2020”, with a total of 80 proposals for joint projects.

Last updated 09.01.2014

Franco-German cooperation

In terms of cooperation with the 28 EU member states, the Franco-German partnership holds a particularly prominent position because of its history, intensity and special institutional architecture. In the immediate aftermath of the Second War World, pursuing Franco-German reconciliation and generating a partnership were the core tasks that provided the starting point for the process of European integration.